Why did the Seaboard Air Line have “Air Line” in their name. After all, weren’t they a railroad? I also read that a planned interurban between Chicago and New York city also had “Air Line” in it’s name. Why?
Because their route was considered to be straight as the crow flies, as though you could travel the distance as if flying, without detours around mountains, rivers or to intermediate cities off the straight path from here to there… and some were so named BEFORE air travel was even considered possible.
The C&NW route from the north side of Milwaukee (Wiscona) to Fond du Lac was built to provide a shorter, faster route to the Fox River Valley in Wisconsin. It was primarily used by passenger trains and was referred to as the “Air Line.”
The original, longer route through Clyman Junction with a connection to the Fond du Lac-Janesville line, continued to be used by most freight trains to and from the Valley, but was eventually abandoned, as was much of the Air Line over time.
John Timm
Most often the name is used to distinguish a shorter, more direct railroad from one that hugs the coast, for example, the Atlantic Coast Line. An “air line” (literally as though you drew a line in the air I guess) would be shorter, though more expensive to build because you don’t have the natural flatness of the seashore. The SAL was shorter to most points but rather hilly. The Boston and New York Air Line Railroad, now mostly abandoned (though there has been talk of using the viaducts still in place for HSR) is another example, cutting across the Berkshires on expensive viaducts rather than the long way along the coast as did the New Haven. It is interesting that in most cases the shore line routes are still there but the air lines are gone.
19th Century and 21st Century references to ‘airline’ are refering to two entirely different things. In the 19th Century being able to fly in the air, other than in a hot air baloon that took you to where ever the wind would carry one, wasn’t considered possible.
Because there was nothing going to be in the way but air.
Add to that a possible “Air Line” route across Southern Part of Michigan( Thru Jackson Michigan). name was the Michigan Air-Line Railroad Company from 1875 to 1884. HQ was at Jackson, Mi.
If interested here is a link to the PDF and History of what it was to become,in par and partnership with the Canada Southern Railway, Michigan Central, The Portland,Rutland& Oswego RR Co.
And if you really, really want to dig into how Railroad across Michigan became part of the Route between Chicago and point East : (Lots of Info at this Link) and how it all ties in with the ‘AirLine’ Route.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shore_and_Michigan_Southern_Railway
Airline = Beeline = As the Crow Flies
The shortest distance between two points.
(Crows sometimes break the rule)
The speed of the road and the trips on it probably had something to do with it as well. Back in the 18th Century there was a high-speed (for the time anyway) stagecoach service between New York and Philadelphia called “The Flying Machine”. Obviously it didn’t fly but the name gave the customer an idea of how quick a trip he could expect.
The Chicago, St. Charles, & Mississippi Air Line right of way, in the western suburbs of Chicago, later built as the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad, which became the Chicago Great Western.
Some highways are known as “airlines” as well…most notably Maine state hwy number 9. The term airline is meant to indicate shorteast route as opposed to “shoreline” for example.
Thank you all for clearing this up for me. Would another definition of an air line be a trunk line? Or are they two different things?
I think of trunk line as the opposite of branch line, ie., a trunk line is a main line.
Another Air Line
Before 1900, the Chicago and Alton did not have a line from Springfield to Roodhouse. Trains from Chicago to Kansas City left the St. Louis line at Bloomington, running west, then south, down to Murrayville, over to Roodhouse and on to KC. Not a fast route compared to what the Santa Fe had built.
So a line from just south of Springfield was built, as straight as possible over to Murrayville, and this route became known, and referred to, as the Airline to differentiate it from the slower route west out of Bloomington (and five miles longer).
As an example, Special Instruction 16 of the Employees Time Table reads, in part, as follows: “Approaching Murrayville Eastward trains via Sub-Division 5 (Air Line) will give two short and one long Blast (o o -------) of the whistle.”
I always understood trunk line to be the description of the big, main lines between the East Coast and Chicago- PRR, NYC, Erie, B&O, etc…
I always understood trunk line to be the description of the big, main lines between the East Coast and Chicago- PRR, NYC, Erie, B&O, etc…
From Wikipedia:#### The air line name
In the days before air travel air line was a common term for the shortest distance between two points: a straight line drawn through the air (or on a map), ignoring natural obstacles. Hence, a number of 19th century railroads used air line in their titles to suggest that their routes were shorter than those of competing roads.
The Seaboard never owned an airplane. In 1940 the railroad proposed the creation of “Seaboard Airlines,” but this idea was struck down by the
Expressman’s Kid wrote the following{in Part]
"…In 1966, the textbook I used teaching high school American Government had in the chapter on the Interstate Commerce Commission a photo of a Seaboard Airline diesel powered passenger train. When a student asked why a railroad was called an airline, I suggested he write to the railroad. The answer he received in essence said that “air line” was an 18th century surveying term designating a sight line between two points without any obstacles in between. This would be the shortest and generally the quickest distance between the two points because one would not have to remove the obstacle or go around it. The Seaboard prided itself in being the shortest and quickest way to the south, thus the name…
The above confirms the explanation given by Wikipedia.
Expressman’s Kid
Thanks for the information! It is certainly a very logical explanation.
Also [#welcome] here! Look forward to more posts from you.
Look yonder comin’, comin’ down the railroad sky
It’s the Orange Blossom Special, she sure can fly
Sam,
Thank you for your kind welcome. If I think that I can contribute to the good of the order, without making a fool of myself, I will.
“Mom! 99 is blowing for 16th Street. Dad will be home soon.”